Hypermetric scruples

Occasionally in classic Latin hymns we find texts that don’t fit the poetic meter perfectly but have an extra syllable, and these are often notated so as to draw attention to the discrepancy, as here (“digitus”) in the Veni Creator Spiritus:

Some choir directors adjust these “hypermetric syllables” to fit the meter: that is, they may “elide” syllables by omitting the vowel of one syllable and combining the rest of that syllable with the next (or the previous one!). For example, in the doxology at the end of a long-meter hymn, the phrase “cum Patre et almo Spiritu” can be sung in eight syllables as “cum Patr-et almo Spiritu”. On the other hand, some choir directors sing these lines exactly as notated, out of a sense of duty to sing the hymn as directed in the church-approved book.

Today I stumbled on this document in the old (1949/1960) Antiphonale Romanum (page 64*), which addresses the concern about what is permitted.

The question addressed to the Congregation of Rites (back in 1915) was whether these lines should be pronounced distinctly and the added notes sung rigorously as indicated in the Antiphonale, or whether it was permitted to elide those syllables; and the answer from the Congregation came back, “Negative to the first part; affirmative to the second”; that is: it is not required to interpret those lines rigorously, and it is permitted to elide the affected syllables.

So when a text occasionally doesn’t conform to the meter of its tune, it’s fine to make it fit: I hope this helps ease any scruples of worried singers.

New from CMAA: Método completo de canto gregoriano

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The newest book from CMAA is a companion to one that we have carried for years. Alongside the English edition of Dom Gregorio Suñol’s chant instruction book Gregorian Chant according to the Solesmes Method, we now have the same book in the original language, Spanish, as Método completo de canto gregoriano.

Dom Suñol, a monk of the abbey at Montserrat and the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sacred Music in Rome, wrote his chant teaching book in 1905, and for years it was expanded in numerous editions and translated into several languages. This new offering is a reprint of the eighth Spanish edition, from 1943.

The book is a thorough and methodical presentation based on the Solesmes method, which he praised in these words:

My teaching, I can say, is not mine. The school of Solesmes has served the Church so magnificently, restoring her chant to her, authentic, beautiful, serious, and suited to her holiness; it burst forth one day by inspiration of the Holy Spirit from the hearts of her most enlightened sons.

Gregorian Chant for the Domestic Church

 

Looking for a way to expand your family’s knowledge and comfort with singing Gregorian chant? Join Mary Ann Carr Wilson for an upcoming multi-week workshop. Don’t delay! The first session begins on Tuesday, November 17th.

Gregorian Chant for the Domestic Church

Weekly Tuesday evening Zoom class offered for families and households, with a focus on classic Advent and Christmas chants.

November 17- December 22, 2020,  5:30-6:30pm PST

$120 class fee per family/ household

To register, visit the website at Canticle.net/workshops

The Latin Mass comes to Laredo, Texas! 

Beginning this coming Sunday, December 16th at 3:00 pm, the Society of St. Padre Pio is proud to announce that extraordinary form liturgies will be offered once a month at 3 pm on the Sunday after the third Saturday of each month. Mass will be held at Christ the King Parish with Msgr. James Harris as celebrant.

It is possible to offer this liturgy in the extraordinary form because of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, from July 7, 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Music will be provided by the St. Cecilia Choir, with Rogelio Senties as director. If you’re in the area, make plans to join them and support their effort to make this form of the Mass available to those in the region.

Details:
December 16, 2018, 3:00 pm
Christ the King Parish
1105 Tilden
Laredo, TX 78040
Ph: 956-723-4267

Newly published: Graduale Parvum: Introits

A new book of Mass propers in English and Latin has appeared from our friends in England: Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Birmingham Oratory has published Graduale Parvum: Introits.

The book contains entrance chants on simple melodies, much in the style of the Graduale Simplex and ICEL’s Roman Missal ordinary chants. Here’s an example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The book has some attractive advantages. The melodies are freely adapted from the authentic Gregorian chants in the Graduale Romanum and often preserve their melodic outline, so they’re a step up for choirs that have used more formulaic English adaptations. In addition, the English texts are all from standard, well-known sources approved for liturgical use by the Holy See: the ICEL Roman Missal and the Revised Grail Psalter. They’re fully notated, including the psalm verses, in attractive, readable chant notation.

American readers can get the book from the CMAA Shop web site, a little easier and slightly cheaper than ordering it from the UK.

Incidentally, in 2002, Fr. Nicholls spoke at the CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium  about the propers and the task of promoting them; the talk has an introduction by Jeffrey Tucker, and included some examples from the book’s draft at the time, which the gathered participants sang.